Luke 3:8

3:8 Therefore produce ¹  fruit ²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁵ 

Acts 2:37

The Response to Peter’s Address

2:37 Now when they heard this, ⁶  they were acutely distressed ⁷  and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”

Acts 9:6

9:6 But stand up ⁸  and enter the city and you will be told ⁹  what you must do.”

Acts 16:30

16:30 Then he brought them outside ¹⁰  and asked, “Sirs, what must ¹¹  I do to be saved?”

[3:8]  ¹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ³ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ⁴ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ⁵ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[2:37]  ⁶ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[2:37]  ⁷ tn Grk “they were pierced to the heart” (an idiom for acute emotional distress).

[9:6]  ⁸ tn Or “But arise.”

[9:6]  ⁹ tn Literally a passive construction, “it will be told to you.” This has been converted to another form of passive construction in the translation.

[16:30]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And bringing them outside, he asked.” The participle προαγαγών (proagagwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun by supplying the conjunction “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

[16:30]  ¹¹ tn The Greek term (δεῖ, dei) is used by Luke to represent divine necessity.